Trigger MMS

04/06/2026

Sun eats a comet!

12/27/2025

Einstein ring. General relativity at work at the edge of time.

👀 You are looking at an Einstein Ring lying at the edge of time! 👇🏻

In one of its most visually stunning and scientifically rich observations yet, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed a nearly flawless Einstein ring—a cosmic illusion formed by gravity itself. The subject of this breathtaking image is SPT0418-47, a galaxy located 12 billion light-years away, seen as it was when the universe was just 1.4 billion years old.

This distant galaxy’s light has been magnified, warped, and stretched into a strikingly circular ring by the gravitational pull of a massive foreground galaxy. The result is a near-perfect Einstein ring—one of the clearest ever seen.

🌌 What Is an Einstein Ring?
An Einstein ring occurs when three cosmic objects—an observer (us), a massive foreground object (like a galaxy or cluster), and a distant background galaxy—align just right. The foreground object’s gravity bends and focuses the background light, forming a ring-shaped image.

This effect, known as gravitational lensing, acts like a natural cosmic telescope, magnifying objects that would otherwise be too faint or distant to observe. In the case of SPT0418-47, the alignment is so precise that the lensing forms a nearly perfect circle—something rarely observed.

Spectroscopic analysis using JWST detected molecules like carbon monoxide, a key tracer of star-forming regions. It suggests that SPT0418-47 is already forming stars at a rapid pace, much like galaxies in today’s universe.

12/13/2025

Meteor shower tomorrow night. Of course it will be cloudy here

12/13/2025

Nice moon graphic

11/15/2025

11/15/2025

Wow, El Salvador!!

11/14/2025

More aurora pix

Last night's view from 30,000 ft. Amazed? We were too!

11/14/2025

Wow. Auroras over Stonehenge again.

10/18/2024

Last good nights for the comet - tonight and tomorrow night! The moon won't be a problem but the comet is fainter than earlier this week, so maybe harder to find but still a good object in binoculars or photos.
1. GET OUT OF TOWN. Be sure city lights are to the east of you. In a city you will see NO TAIL. Go with a group - more fun and you can take turns making selfies.
2. Find a location with a clear horizon to the west-southwest.. (This is actually LESS important now, because the comet is higher in the sky).
3. Find a location with some interesting objects in the foreground.
4. If you have a "real" (SLR camera), put it on MANUAL focus and focus on the farthest object you can find during daylight. Then when it gets dark, focus on Venus and tape your focus ring so you don't bump it. Put your camera on F/4 or so to get a large depth of field. I put mine on "aperture priority" and set it to UNDEREXPOSE by about one f-stop (play around with this). Put it on a tripod. (better yet, bolt it to a telescope but that's a more involved procedure). Don't use a lot of telephoto since that will require a longer exposure and more star streaks. I used 70mm for the scene and 120MM for the closeups. If you have a camera that connects to your laptop, it makes it much easier to be sure you have a good shot. (My Canon comes with free EOS software). Try not to have a time exposure more than 8 seconds or so... bump up the ISO setting. Of course set it on highest resolution and "RAW" so you can process the image.
5. Binoculars should also be on tripods so you can share the view when someone spots it. 7-8x50 or 10x80 is good. 10x20 is too small a field and very hard to find.
6. As always, red lights so you don't kill your night vision. A green laser is helpful - when someone sees it, they can point it out to others.
7. Newer Iphones work amazing well. Hold it as steady as you can, or put on a tripod, etc. It automatically stacks long time exposures.
8. if you can't do manual focus, put your camera into "landscape" or "sunset" mode so it will focus at infinity and not overexpose.
9. Once the comet starts to set, put yourself in the picture and do a selfie with the comet. be FAR AWAY from your camera so you will be in focus too. (Use the timer setting). Once it gets too close to the horizon it may disappear so don't wait too long.

The photo is an iPhone photo taken by Bridget Koester of Charlie Gardner. This was Tuesday night when he was illuminated by moonlight. I cropped it and reduced the brightness to make it look more realistic. Tonight there will be less foreground illumination which will make the comet easier to see but harder to do a selfie.

It may be several years till we get another comet this good so don't miss this one! (and yeah, sorry, comets are always brightest with the longest tails when they are close to the sun, so early morning and early evening are the best viewing times)

10/11/2024

Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Space Storms, Oh My! You can watch free our planetarium show "Force 5", which covers these massive natural hazards, on our YouTube channel. That link and a lot more info, including my hurricane preparedness document, here:

Feel the Fury! Get ready to take cover when you see nature go FORCE FIVE, from our partners, Houston Museum of Natural Science and Rice University.

10/10/2024

Wow, instead of dying down, it is getting more intense! We may have auroras in Texas again!! When it's dark, head outside and look to the north!! The solar wind input (BI) is about 550, nearly what it was in May. If it continues at this level, we will have major low latitude auroras!! Our short-term forecast now is Kp9! https://mms.rice.edu/forecast.html

10/10/2024

SPACE WEATHER ALERT! If the current level of input (red line in second image) continues, we will have Kp 7 or 8 tonight. Look for auroras and report on aurorasaurus.org! Here's my latest teacher newsletter if you missed it: https://mailchi.mp/8b36f00fc790/aurorasandcomet